A Comparison of Phonological Skills in Children with Reading Comprehension Difficulties and Children with Decoding Difficulties

Abstract This paper examines phonologic skills in children with two distinct forms of reading difficulty: comprehension problems and decocting problems. In the first study a group of children with normal decoding skills but poor reading comprehension skill. was studied. These children were found to have age‐appropriate phonological skills It is argued that normal phonological skills have enabled them to develop proficient decoding skills. A second study assessed the phonological skills of a group of children with decoding difficulties. These children showed marked deficits on tests of phonological skills. It appears that weak phonological skills underlie these children's decoding difficulties.